Design Studio

Where Theory Meets Practice

Our Design Studio is a dynamic, innovative space where theory meets practice in the pursuit of safer civic spaces. Each month, we host Design Studios that serve as experimental workshops for leaders, thinkers, and changemakers from various sectors.

What Happens in a Session

In these engaging sessions, participants come together to:

Explore approaches to effective leadership in high-tension environments.
Develop and refine essential competencies for maintaining nonviolent civic spaces.
Collaborate on creative solutions to real-world challenges facing communities.
Test and iterate on strategies for lowering the temperature in various scenarios.

Our Design Studios are structured to be both educational and highly interactive. We employ a range of methodologies to facilitate discussions and prototyping sessions. This hands-on approach allows participants to not only learn new concepts but also practice applying them in a safe, supportive environment.

Who Can Participate

We welcome a diverse array of partners to our Design Studio sessions, including:

Community leaders and local government officials.
Representatives from nonprofit and advocacy organizations.
Media professionals and communication experts.
Researchers in fields related to democracy, conflict resolution and social psychology.
Business leaders interested in promoting civic responsibility.

By bringing together individuals from different backgrounds and sectors, we create a rich, multidisciplinary environment that fosters innovation and cross-pollination of ideas.

Sign up for our upcoming sessions

December's Design Studio Session

From Risk to Reward: Adopting the growing toolkit for shaping the norm of safe and sound civic spaces

Date: Thursday, Dec. 05, 2024, 2-3:30 p.m. ET (11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT)

“As we contemplate the next four years, we should recall that autocrats are always weaker than they appear, and we are often stronger than we might think.” These are the powerful words from a recent op-ed in Waging Nonviolence by our next guest, Maria Stephan, PhD. Maria serves as Co-Lead & Chief Organizer of The Horizons Project, a Best-Case Scenario partner organizing against political violence and leading non-violence resistance.

In this op-ed, Maria declares that authoritarians’ have their own “kryptonite” – a reliance on the active and passive support of ordinary people throughout society. But, Maria notes, power can be given, and power can be taken away.

In this Design Studio, Maria will trace back to the history of successful movements such as the Black-led, multiracial civil rights movement anchored in the South and Native American struggles for sovereignty and self-determination to learn what they did that was so effective. She’ll also review the must-haves for successful non-violent resistance movements, such as de-escalation, security protocols, codes of conduct, relationship-building, training/coaching hotlines and more. Together, we’ll review options available that work for many different parts of society, from student walk-outs to day-long worker strikes to showing up in the streets. And she’ll show what we still need to do to secure safe, healthy civic spaces for our communities.

Join us for a powerful conversation on Thursday, December 5 from 2 PM ET to 3:30 PM ET. RSVP by clicking the link below.